S4. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



2875. 



If it is only yourself that reads Gi.eanings, 

 they might easily be kept nice "in a drawer," 

 but we confess that we felt rather flattered a 

 short time since in visiting several l^ee friends, 

 to find the last number at one place conveni- 

 ently on a stand with a pair of specta<^les laid 

 on the pages to keep the place, and at another 

 the number, (although it had only been out a 

 Aveek) looked as if some urchin had used it for 

 a spelling book during a whole terra at a coun- 

 try school. It certainly had l>een used, and we 

 went our way rejoicing. Friend Ila is right 

 about strait combs, and we thank him for the 

 correction. But beware of spreading the brood 

 combs however, before the weather is quite 

 warm. 



Mr. D. Dubois, Newburg, Orange Co., N. Y., 

 sends us an ingenious plan for a movable por- 

 tico to be applied to any kind of a hive. It is 

 made of two boards 4x11 inches, fiisteued to- 

 gether at the top like a letter A. Now imagine 

 the horizontal cross bar on this letter, a button, 

 with a screw through the centre to liold it up 

 firmly to the hive, and you have it all. Each 

 end of this button is made with a projection 

 that enters a slot cut in each of the boards, but 

 not quite thi'ough them. By boring a hole just 

 above the button, we have an upper entrance, 

 with the button for an alighting board ; in the 

 Avinter by turning this button perpendicularly, 

 it closes the upper entrance. To keep the por- 

 tico from slipping down, a nail is driven just 

 underneath the peak. This allows us to make 

 the upper and lower story just alike and yet 

 have a portico if any body wniit.-i one. After 

 testing hives with, and without, for two 

 seasons past, we really cannot think it makes 

 any difference either way with the honey crop. 

 Our friend Dean says a portico encourages the 

 bees in hanging out of doors, and he wants his 

 bees in the hive. Now if the spiders should 

 persist in making a new web in these porticos 

 every morning, as they sometimes do in ours, 

 we can easily lift them off and put them away. 

 Some will probably always prefer jwrticos, 

 while others will not, as in other things. 



DEAR NOVICE :— Please say to the inquisitive ones, 

 through "Gleanings," that the $^4.45 mentioned on 

 front cover of No. 6, Vol. 2, was the cost of the iron 

 work mentioned in the same sentence, at the factory. 



That the saws, 1)olts, beltinp:. and lumber ran tlie 

 1)ill for materials up to about $48.00. 



That I put the machine togetlier mj'self, witliout 

 adding to the ligures. 



That while the machine does do more accurate work, 

 than I have ever succeeded in having done, by more 

 portentous machinery; nevertheless, the idea of using 

 human muscles, as the motive power, for the amount 

 of work that looms np, prospectively, in tlie immediate 

 future, does not correspond, very well, with the boast- 

 ed ingenuity of this age and nation. 



Therefore I am preparing to "attach"' a lever horse 

 ))ower to the machine, by means of a belt thrown over 

 a pulley, placed on the driving shaft. 



Tliis winter, in these parts, would do no discredit, to 

 an arctic region. This morning the mercury fell to 40° 

 below zero, and was still going down, when I took it 

 in out of the cold; because it had reached (and in fact 

 was a little below) the end of the graduated scale, at 

 40". The mercury in the cellar, of late, keeps vibra- 

 ting about, and near to the freezing point. Bees quiet. 



1). r. Imne, Koshkonong, Kock Co., Wis. Feb. II, 'Tri. 



How long will it take to feed 25 lbs. of sugar syrui) 

 ■with the Universal feeder to an average colony of 

 beer; in warm weather ? 



We have never tested the matter, because 

 wc deemed feeding a pint or a quart a day, 

 more desirable iu preparing for winter, than 



more rapid feeding. If the bags were made to 

 hold about a quart each, and were filled morn- 

 ing noon and night, or oftener, we could prob- 

 ably get them to take 25 lbs. in two or three 

 days, in warm weather. 



How will molasses hhds. answer for holding honey 

 temporarily ? Say, take one head out— thoroughly- 

 clean — heat in the sun — then coat the inside with hot 

 wax. using a brush for the purpose. When the honey 

 candies there will be no difliculty iu getting it out. 



We would advise trying the plan j'ou men- 

 tion. If you pour in a quantity of melted wax, 

 and run it all over the inside, it will assuredly 

 make it hold honey. 



How long before you can give us a simple and infal- 

 lible remedy for honeN' crystalizing? Such would be 

 worth a good deal to liie as my whole crop is sold ia 

 bottles and will not retail well in a solid state. For 

 the present, will heating to the boiling point in a ves- 

 sel set in water answer? Must the honey be bottled 

 and sealed while hot or will it do as well when cold ? 



We find no trouble when we follow directions 

 given heretofore, viz., heat your honey almost 

 to a boil, fill the jars full, and seal (tt once, while 

 hot, just as if it were fruit. If not made hot. 

 enough, it will candy again partially. We 

 think the writers who say that pure honey will 

 always candy, a little hasty. 



The frames in my hives rest on a metal rabbet and 

 are not secured at the bottom. They slide about very 

 easily. When I send off a load of hives to an apiary. I 

 secure the frames by jjlacing half inch strips reaching 

 to the bottom board" between the combs at each end. 

 It takes considerable time to fix them. Can you devise 

 anything that will be less bother and answer equally 

 well? 



To be sure if we liave frames perfectly mova- 

 ble, they must of a necessity be made stationery 

 when we wish to transport colonies and the 

 question arises as to whether it is advisable to 

 be bothered with any arrangement for keeping 

 frames fixed, every time we open a hive, just 

 because we have once in a great while 

 a case that makes such an arrangement desira- 

 ble. In moving our bees to the swamp, see 

 Vol. 1, page 75, we put strips between all of the 

 end bars to the frames, except one hive which 

 was overlooked, but as this hivehad not been 

 opened at all, the bridge of wax from one comb 

 to the next, kept the frames all in their places. 

 This is generally sufficient for moving short 

 distances, where the combs have been iu use 

 several years, and where they have not been 

 taken out for some little time before moving. 

 In shipping bees considerable distances, wc 

 know of no plan better than the sticks. Some- 

 thing could be added to the hive for this when 

 making, but would it be advisable, when the 

 hive in many apiaries may not require to Ix; 

 moved in years? In moving the hives in doors 

 and out, even with Metal Corners as well as 

 rabbets, no preparation is needed, if the hives 

 are carried so that the frames do not oscillate 

 by the motion of stepping. 



Are Basswood trees ornamental, and of rapid 



growth? Would they grow here? Our climate will 



admit of the culture of the hardier varieties of grapes. 



G. (/'. MiLLKH, Mt. Hanley, Annapolis t^o., N. S. 



The Basswood is a most beautiful tree for 

 ornament, and when it blooms the i)erfume 

 extends for a great distance around. It is a 

 very rapid grower when once started and wc 

 believe is perfectly hardy so far as frost is con- 

 cerned. 



Bees worked on rye Hour all through the month of 

 Dec, and most of the nunilli of Jan., but are housed 

 np now on .account oC coin. 1 have 6.S colonies mostly 

 in good condition, and think J will have same number 

 when spring opfus "Long may you wave.'' 



J. F. MoNiGOMKKV, I,iiico!n. Tcuu. 



